Stellaris is getting a First Contact story pack, Paradox confirm after leaks

Sci-fi grand strategy Stellaris will take a step back from the stars and concentrate on pre-FTL civilisations with its upcoming First Contact story pack DLC. Paradox announced the DLC today after details, screenshots and a trailer leaked ahead of the reveal through SteamDB. YouTuber Aspec also uploaded a video detailing the leak and revealing the DLC’s trailer, which has since been made private. You can watch the official trailer below.

“First Contact offers a set of new origins and mechanics that give players the chance to tell stories about their civilizations’ early encounters with visitors from the stars,” Paradox’s blurb for the story pack said. ”Ones that may not have come in peace!” You’ll have three new origins to choose from, ranging from being taken captive by aliens to your planet being invaded and conquered. Established post-FTL civilisations will get new ways to interact with new species on the galactic block, too. The First Contact DLC will also introduce cloaking into Stellaris for the first time, something game director Stephen Muray told me the team have been trying to bring to the game for ages when I talked to Paradox in August.

A dev diary the developers published towards the end of last week had teased that something new to do with first contact scenarios was coming for Stellaris. “We understand that this is all very sudden. Receiving a transmission ‘from the stars’ has likely come as a surprise to you, but we’ve been watching your world for some time and your civilization scores very highly on several relevant metrics,” the post read. “With an evaluation score of ?ERROR_UNDEFINED, the people of ?ERROR_HOMEWORLDNAMENOTFOUND have been flagged as particularly worthy of cooperative enlightenment. Congratulations!” Seems suss.

The First Contact DLC for Stellaris doesn’t have a release date yet. The base game is on Steam and GOG for £35/$40/€40.